The Passion of John the Baptist and True Love

In life and in death John the Baptist showed the world that the way of the Savior, Jesus, was to die a humiliating death.

St. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testaments prophets because He died just before the death of Jesus.

Even though it didn’t seem like it, John the Baptist died for love of Herod and Herodias. One was interested but fundamentally apathetic to the message of Jesus; the other hated the message. So they killed the messenger.

Secure in the knowledge of John the Baptist, where do we stand in our faith and in our love of God and neighbor?

Written by Laura Weston, widow of Deacon Michael Weston

IF YOU LIKE, READ ALONG WHILE YOU ARE LISTENING:

The story of John the Baptist and Herod is quite interesting. We start out the readings todaybasically a reading from, relating to Jeremiah, where the word comes to Jeremiah and God basically says, “You are going to be a prophet and you are going to have problems.”

And we see John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist has not been presented in history as someone who is mealy-mouthed. John said what he meant, and he meant what he said and there wasn’t a whole lot of equivocation in what he said.

And he was a prophet. He was quite fiery. Strong personality. And he went out and preached.

And he said a lot of bad things about Herod, but he particularly said things about Herodias.

And I can imagine very easily, Herod, with, you know, he had got John the Baptist in prison, and you get the impression that they had talked before.

And Herod came up to John and said, “Look. Here is the deal. I understand you’re a prophet. I like to listen to what you say. I don’t understand it and I’d love you to explain more of it to me. But you’re causing me a problem. I want a simple favor from you.

You know I’m king; I’m powerful. But I’m subject to the Romans and I’m constantly worrying about the respect that the Romans have for me. And, I don’t know if you have ever met my wife. She is beautiful. She’s wonderful. And you just irritate her to no end. So, the Romans look at me and say, ‘Look at that king. He is so weak. This John the Baptist…and we are used to people going out and making noises and everything, but he yells at his wife and Herod just is so mild that he puts up with it.’ And Herodias, I mean, every time I come to bed,” he tells John the Baptist, “she says, ‘Well, have you done anything about John the Baptist. Are you just going to let him sit there. Are you going to protect him. Are you going to let him say these horrible things about me.”

And he just says to John, “ I’ll release you. All I want you to do is shut up about my wife. There’s no problem.” You know John’s answer. “No! I am a prophet. I tell the truth. I am a prophet from God. I can’t do that.”

So we have this situation. Have you ever listened to the promise that Herod made to his wife’s daughter, known as Salome, I guess, in tradition.

The easiest thing for that girl to do was say, “Hey, guess what. I want to be queen; get rid of my mother. I will be queen with you.” That would have been the easiest thing. But instead she was a very good daughter and asked for John the Baptist’s head.

So we have a situation where John the Baptist becomes a martyr.

The question that we have in our lives is, man, die for your faith! You are a martyr. You are going to heaven. It’s straight line right there.

I talked about my friend who is in the Methodist church. “Well, we can get more people to join our church if we change our teachings.”

We see certain movements within the Church ourselves. “Ah, well, let’s be nice about this issue and that issue.” It’s one of the reasons I’m always talking about, “You can’t pull that thread because there are ramifications.”

But the question is, we see it in the interface between faith and accomplishing an end. Faith and government. Faith and society.

Basically those interactions are where martyrs are made. That’s where the martyrdom of John the Baptist is: between the power or the government and faith.

And the question that we face in our lives is, do we have it in ourselves to be martyrs? Do we have it within ourselves to stand up to authority that has the ability to punish us to whatever degree, to make us a martyr, because they are wrong, based on our belief in Our Lord Jesus Christ and the truth that is in the depository of the Catholic Church.

Do we have the ability to come in and say, “What you are doing, whoever the mayor of Dallas is, or the mayor of Farmers Branch or whatever,” and say, “You are wrong. Stop what you’re doing.”

Back in the old times Bob would say [in response to], “Look, just shut up. I can arrange to have you killed if you don’t shut up”: ‘No, you are wrong!’”

Do we have it within ourselves to face the issue of the world that we have now. On the issue of abortion. On any issue that where society is saying, “This kind of conduct is appropriate,” and to go in and say, “No, it is not!” in the face of the opposition of those in power. Do we have within ourselves the ability to become martyrs.

It’s hard. I don’t like pain. Someone comes along and says to me, “I am going to give you thirty lashes with a whip with little rocks and glass in it. And it is going to rip your back to pieces.” I’ll go, “Let’s talk. I don’t know if I really want you to do that. Let’s try to figure out if we have a way that we can accommodate these issues.” And when we don’t, do I have the strength within me to say, “Here, let me take my shirt off. Do what you are going to do. Kill me for our faith.”? Do we have the ability within ourselves to die for our faith?

That was, and Fr. Bradley will vehemently deny it, that was the question that he asked me when I was trying to figure out whether it was the appropriate time to go through Confirmation. I remember he was sitting in our, he denies saying it, he says, “I would never say that to anybody,” but he did. We were sitting in our living room and I didn’t go through RCIA and I am going, “Aahh, I don’t know if I am ready. I don’t know enough. I don’t understand all this stuff!” And my wife is going, “He is ready.” Fr. Bradley was going, “He is ready.” And I was going, “I don’t know!”

And he says, “Let me ask you this question. Would you die for your faith?” I went, “Whoa.” And I thought about it and I said, “Yes.” He says, “You’re ready.”

Now, like I said, if you ever ask Fr. Bradley about that he would deny it, but it happened. Are you ready to die for your faith? Are you ready to be a martyr for Our Lord Jesus Christ and die? Not figuratively, but literally die? Are you willing to stand up to the powers that be, that have the power to punish you, to throw you in jail… they run around with guns on their hips. Do you have the power to go, of the faith, to walk up to a policeman who is trying to repress you from exercising your right to witness for your faith and tell him that he’s wrong, knowing that he has the ability to pull out a gun and shoot you and may be angry enough to do it?

That’s a question that we need to ask ourselves. That’s the question of John the Baptist. Do we have a faith strong enough to allow us to become a martyr, a martyr for the faith? Are we willing to say, to Herod, “I can’t deny my faith and what you and Herodias are doing is wrong and I can’t shut up about it. I can’t do it because it forces me into a position where I am no longer following the teachings of God.”

Can you do that? Can we do that? It’s hard. Do we have the faith so strong to put it on a practical level? To go to someone that we love, and say, “What you are doing, Beth, is wrong,” knowing that Beth will never talk to me again the rest of my life. Are we willing to sacrifice that for Christ?

He sacrificed His life for us. Are we being willing, in our lives, to take the situations where we face becoming a martyr, not dead maybe, but the loss of a friend, the loss of a child, not talking to you, being angry the rest of their lives at you, for saying, “You are wrong.” “You have to change, Beth.” Or do we face the situation of saying, “Beth, you know I don’t approve of what you’re doing but I love you,” knowing that by saying that, you’re placing their immortal soul in jeopardy. Which one’s worse? Do we have the courage of John the Baptist to say, “No, you are wrong. You are wrong! And no matter what happens to me for the faith, I can accept because I believe in my Lord Jesus Christ and He died on the cross for me and at least I can do this, to be a witness for His faith.”

August 29, 2018